Causes of the Second Punic War - 1722 Words

WORD COUNT: 1650 The two biggest powers of the Mediterranean where always destined to come head to head once again after the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC). There was no clear victor and the terms set by the Romans were extremely harsh. Even though the main cause of the second war was the war on Saguntum you must go back all the way to the ending of the First War. The war on Saguntum was seen by Polybius to be just the first incident in the war. In this essay I will look into the causes of the Second Punic War with the intention of backing up Polybius argument that the war on Saguntum was just the first incident and not a cause as Livy views it. I will be doing this with close analysis of our ancient sources. Three main causes will be†¦show more content†¦All this plus having to give up more than one piece of land was a huge blow to Carthaginian pride. As Livy put it; â€Å"mutual hatred was hardly less sharp a weapon than the sword† in the led up to war. This just helps to reinforce the argument that war was unavoidable one way or another and therefore the war on Saguntum was just an incident which led to a war which would eventually decide the dominant power in the Mediterranean. The success the Barca family had in the Spanish Peninsula was another huge factor which contributed to the war. It affected both Rome and Carthage. We must first look into what caused the expansion of Carthage into the Spanish Peninsula. When Hamilcar Barca had to give up Sicily and Sardinia he took a huge blow to his pride. And as Livy mentions â€Å"he was a proud man† and therefore the taking of Sicily which â€Å"had been surrendered too soon† and the fact that he was tricked into giving up Sardinia made Hamilcar determined to something about it. The Punic population also felt the same way as Hamilcar did towards the Romans. They despised the â€Å"tyrannical attitude of their conquerors† and therefore there was hardly any dispute when they had to decide whether to go to war or not. After the First Punic War, Hamilcar went to Spain with the purpose of building a power base to use against Rome. Not in order to be able pay their debts back as he told the Rom ans. Livy states that Carthage expansion in Spain was just a step in HamilcarShow MoreRelatedThe Punic Wars973 Words   |  4 PagesThe Punic Wars were made of three major wars. The last war was kind of a punishment for Carthage from Rome. The two powers in these wars were Rome and Carthage. Rome was controlling the main peninsula of Italy while Carthage was controlling the islands and trade of the Mediterranean. Rome and Carthage were once on a friendly term until things went south well. The Punic Wars have major historical content that involve both leaders on opposite side as well as the battles among the two city-states. 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